Quandry.......what Do I Charge?!

Business By MikeRowesHunny Updated 3 Jul 2006 , 3:20pm by MikeRowesHunny

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MikeRowesHunny Posted 3 Jul 2006 , 8:09am
post #1 of 5

My daughter started kindergarten last Monday. It was her birthday this weekend and I took a piece of cake and a picture of the cake to show her teacher. She was very impressed - said it was a real art what I do. Anyhoo, one of the other mothers overheard us and looked through my portfolio and took a business card. She followed me out of the classroom and asked if I could do a cake for the teacher as a surprise on Thursday from the children who are leaving the group to go to grade 3. She said they (not sure who 'they' are!) will pay me - I said sure! It has to feed around 22 kids and a few adults (the teacher and maybe 2 assistants). The woman who ordered the cake said she'd like a picture of Jip & Janneke (famous Dutch children's book characters) on it. They are always drawn sillouetted in black, so for me the easiest way is to do a fondant plaque and paint them on. The rest of the cake will be a 2-layer yellow cake 12in hexagon (just cos I want to use this pan!), decorated in buttercream and filled with strawberry jam, which by my reckoning should serve 24 easily (party servings).

I've put all the ingredients through my price matrix, I bake from scratch and I live in Europe ( = EXPENSIVE icon_lol.gif), and before I've even added in my time the cake is already coming to E20 (plus my SO will have to take me to the school in the car - I don't think the cake would survive the usual method of biking to school)! I'm reckoning the whole cake process and plaque will take me around 4 hours to do. For an unknown customer I would normally charge about E55-E60 for this cake.

So what do I charge for my daughter's teacher surprise - I don't mind giving a discount if it'll give me some more business and because it's for someone I know (only just!), but I don't want to make people think I'm really cheap either - this is my business and I want to treat it that way - I don't want people thinking they can just get something from nothing from me! I realise that my cakes are not the most fabulous in the world (decorative wise - they taste great though!), but I deserve some compensation for my time and effort too, don't I?

Please help! Any suggestions and advice on the price I should charge would be great - thanks!

4 replies
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SugarFrosted Posted 3 Jul 2006 , 8:30am
post #2 of 5

Did the other mother ask what you charge for such a cake?

Charge her what you calculated, what would charge an unknown customer, but give a small discount "a special one time offer" if she is shocked by how much it is. But do not back down. Remember, you are in the business of selling cakes, not giving them away when someone does not like your price. I hope that "they" pay you as they should, and that they do not say "oh my, we don't have your money."

I personally would never order something which I did not get a price for before it is made. I think you should tell them the price before you make it.
Do you have the other mother's phone number or email?

Good Luck! thumbs_up.gif

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MikeRowesHunny Posted 3 Jul 2006 , 8:42am
post #3 of 5

No, she didn't ask me how much it would be, but I wasn't going to give her a price on the spot either - I've done that before and way under-priced myself - never again! I intended to come home, work it out, consult with my fellow decorators on this board, and then tell her tomorrow when I see her again or give her a quote in a sealed envelope for her son to give her this afternoon!

I was thinking that I'd go mid-way on price (E45) but on the quote make sure she could see I was giving a E15 discount (just because it was for the teacher, and I will do it as my 'end of term' gift). Do you think that's fair?

Thanks!

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leily Posted 3 Jul 2006 , 1:36pm
post #4 of 5

If you feel comfortable giving a discount then by all means do, but just make sure she knows you are giving it to her.

On the last cake I did for maily I had it listed out as follows

Price of cake
- discount (have listed next to it why the discount, here it was "family discount")
Total price needed paid.

Hope that makes sense. Hope this helps.

Leily

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MikeRowesHunny Posted 3 Jul 2006 , 3:20pm
post #5 of 5

OK, so here's what I've quoted:

12in 2-layer filled hexagon cake decorated in buttercream:

Ingredients E18
Hand-painted fondant plaque E2
Labour (4 hours) E40

Sub-total E60

Discount (as a gift to Juf Linda) -E15

Total to pay:E45


I'm going to give her the quote in an envelope tomorrow morning when I drop my daughter off at school. I've asked her to e-mail me tomorrow and let me know yes or no - I'm not going to start any work on it until she agrees, but I'll need to start doing the plaque tomorrow! I think this sounds fair, I'm working all day Wednesday, so I'll be up fairly late getting this done! Thanks for your help girls
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